1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Lahore
Region
Asia
Native title of the NBS intervention
گورنمنٹ گرلز ہائی سکول شیر شاہ کالونی میں کمیونٹی گارڈن کا پائلٹ پراجیکٹ
Short description of the intervention
A community gardening pilot project was launched in Lahore by the Institute for Art and Culture (IAC) as a part of its mission and outreach programme to develop sustainable communities. Created in 2020, the project was developed in the Government Girls High School located in the vicinity of IAC in the low-income Sher Shah Colony in Raiwind Road. Various other organisations, including Gardening for All, The Little Arts and Adventure Foundation Pakistan also provided support to the project (1,2,3).

The project aimed to involve 70 students and 10 teachers from grades 7 to 10 via a series of workshops (3, 9) and provide hands-on training to the girls and their teachers (2). A trainer provided information on relevant topics in the workshops and also taught students of ideal and efficient planting practices (6).

The representatives of IAC and Gardening for All selected the ideal space for carrying out the community garden project in the school playground (4). The total area of the community garden is not revealed but proper raised beds were created for students (2). The students participated in the development of the community garden and took care of their dedicated garden beds (3, 6). The representatives of IAC had a keen interest to ensure the long-term continuity of this project by providing appropriate training and involving the schools together with the communities they represent (3).
Address

C66F+7X4, Sher Shah Colony, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Lahore-54000
Pakistan

Total area
6418.08m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
School Open Space (1)
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2020
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2020
End date of the intervention
2020
Present stage of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
The project aimed to:
- Build or restore a sense of community spirit, by sharing the joy of gardening with the local community;
- Provide a means of local/indigenous food production, as well as a means of income generation to the community, sustaining therefore self-sufficiency, community empowerment and involvement
- Promote healthy lifestyles and cleaner environments and develop sustainable communities through a community garden program.
- Ensure the long-term continuity of this project by providing appropriate training at both public and private-sector schools.

(1, 2, 3, 6)
Quantitative targets
- 70 students and 10 teachers to participate in the pilot phase
-Total of 8 workshops were to be conducted.


(1, 2, 3)
Monitoring indicators defined
1. number of people involved in the training session
2. number of training workshops conducted
3. type of seeds planted in the beds

(1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10)
Implementation activities
The community garden pilot project in Government Girls High School Sher Shah Colony was a two-month initiative, implemented between October 13 and December 8, 2020.

The project aimed to involve 70 students and 10 teachers from grades 7 to 10 through a series of eight workshops and it was designed to train teachers to carry out the training themselves in the future without assistance from the IAC faculty and other volunteers. (1,2,3). The training sessions were provided by Dr Fouzia Naz from Gardening from All (2,3). The introductory workshop focused on the benefits and importance of community gardens to the students. The representatives of IAC and Gardening for All discussed the possible space for carrying out the community garden project in the school and selected the possible site for this purpose (4). The main topic for the second workshop was nutrition and composting where students also participated by asking questions and contributing to discussions which made the classroom session informative. The initial planning for land preparation of the community garden was also carried out in the send training (5). The other workshops cover topics related to health and nutrition and the benefits of consuming home-grown produce, the importance of organic food, the economic benefits of growing vegetables as a community, the types of vegetables to grow as per season, methods of preparing planting beds, soil mixes and seed and seedling planting (2,3,5).

Mrs Zebun Nisa, the school principal, provided active support in creating raised beds for the community garden project (6). The students planted multiple vegetable seeds in their dedicated spaces, including fenugreek, turnip, potato, cabbage, mint, and cauliflower (6, 10). The trainers also taught the ideal way of planting, watering and throwing seeds in the beds for efficient results (6).

NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Community gardens and allotments
Community gardens
Please specify the number of plots or allotment gardens
Unknown
Vegetation Type
Amenities offered by the NBS
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Cultural services
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Governance
Governance arrangements
Non-government actors
Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Researchers, university
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The community garden project was initiated by the Institute of Art and Culture as a part of its mission and outreach programme to develop sustainable communities. The community garden was developed in the Government High School Sher Shah Colony whose principal provided all the necessary support. The training sessions, plantation and support were provided by the "Gardening for All", "The Little Arts" and "Adventure Foundation Pakistan" organizations for the project (1, 2).
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Public sector institution
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group
Researchers/university
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
No
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Co-finance for NBS
No
Co-financing governance arrangements
No
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Financing
Total cost
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Costs are not applicable in this situation as it was an initiative developed by the IAC Lahore as part of its mission and outreach program to develop sustainable communities. (3)
Source(s) of funding
Type of fund(s) used
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Business models
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Type of innovation
Please specify social innovation
The action is innovative through the approach taken by the university to reach its mission and outreach by implementing a sustainable program. (3)
Novelty level of the innovation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
It is not known that the action is copied or new, as sources do not mention any of this.
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
It is mentioned that there's an expectation that the action once being implemented in future, the people taken part in the implementation will carry out the training themselves without assistance from the IAC faculty and other volunteers. (1)
Impacts, benefits
Description of environmental benefits
Increased green space area: The project did not produce reports however sources mention that there was an increase in green spaces though size has not been disclosed.
Increased number of species present: multiple vegetable seeds were planted in the beds by students in their dedicated spaces which included fenugreek, turnip, potato, cabbage, mint, and cauliflower, therefore increasing the number of species in an area that before did not have any of these plants (6, 10).
Improved prevention or control of invasive alien species/ Enhanced support of pollination: Mint is a valuable plant that provides numerous benefits such as enhancing the growth of other garden plants by attracting beneficial insects and repelling pests. (11)
Economic impacts
Description of economic benefits
Economic benefits have not been reported.
Description of social and cultural benefits
Increased involvement of locals by providing appropriate training at both public and private-sector schools and with the active and whole-hearted involvement of the schools together with the communities they represent. (3) This signaled that there was an expectation that the implementer seeks to ensure the long-term continuity of this project.(3)
Increased sustainability of agriculture practices/Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits: The participants were provided with three workshops that covered topics such as health and nutrition and the benefits of consuming home-grown produce, importance of organic food, economic benefits of growing vegetables as a community, the types of vegetables to grow as per season, methods of preparing planting beds, soil mixes and seed and seedling planting therefore sharing practical aspects of the sustainable agricultural practices. (1)

Type of reported impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknwon as of April, 7, 2023.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1. The News. (2020). Pilot project of community gardens launched. Available at: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/737366-pilot-project-of-community-gardens-launched?fbclid=IwAR3SrJ7vkZIcyPuLI19beLMvvARL1kltrG2kCDtk_G6Ud0jJVmW-0RCajjE (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
2. News Update Times. (2020). IAC initiated the Community Garden program for sustainable development. Available at: https://newsupdatetimes.com/iac-initiated-the-community-garden-program-for-sustainable-development/ (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
3. IAC. (2020). Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/iacofficials/posts/pfbid02fLim6Dzup8uAveHtJhkMTzmYxCZNAXnMqLk7MpCDA1toV3eP1Dc7hRcY38kDgvQil (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
4. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Training Session regarding Kitchen Gardening First Session. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/gghsshershahcolony0655/posts/pfbid06GEAqBUCaU29Mfdsb2cUvLibjc2qGd8PCTbPnqWrna8vxryUqxLWSSS8AaeqriMEl (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
5. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Training Session II. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/gghsshershahcolony0655/posts/pfbid02ppA3yr54SVSLGY1qoxprLK57DgjVuZtPjkmqHfNURR3722TtmuZJSDLhf6tQtUeel (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
6. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Soil Preparation and planting the seeds. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=744314462827337 (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
7. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Training Session III. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/gghsshershahcolony0655/posts/pfbid02oNq4uDD26PQYod6rAFvAnoFRBp8ogTX6iQMCXDWfTezCLXCTdgaZPaZkCHT7ssTRl (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
8. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Sight of Steady Efforts. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/gghsshershahcolony0655/posts/pfbid02rCD1aQHrwE2kDpjEnMXAHErA4KL1tf3wTXzyBMQHJRBLPgcJ68JyQqMnSerPFaWrl (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
9. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=358043278803058 (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
10. GGHS Sher Shah Colony Lahore. (2020). Kitchen Gardening Session V. (Facebook). Available at: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=673621483357048 (Accessed: February 12, 2023)
11. How to Culinary Herb Garden (2022), Mint Companion Plants: How To Attract Pollinators and Repel Pests with Mint, available at https://howtoculinaryherbgarden.com/mint-companion-plants/ (accessed 7-04-2023)
Comments and notes
Public Images
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Training for plantation in community garden
Source: (Ref: 3)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Students working in community garden
Source: (Ref: 8)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Students working in community garden with trainer
Source: (Ref: 3)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Students working in community garden
Source: (Ref: 3)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Students working in community garden
Source: (Ref: 3)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Students working in community garden
Source: (Ref: 8)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Training Session
Source: (Ref: 3)
Image
Pilot Project of Community Garden at Government Girls High School, Sher Shah Colony
Preparation of garden beds for community garden project
Source: (Ref: 5)
Image
Community garden
Community garden
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2801753680106048&set=pcb.2801754126772670
Image
Community garden
Community garden
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2801753680106048&set=pcb.2801754126772670
Please specify other source of non-financial contribution
Assisted by garden experts, professional bodies, and volunteers. (3)